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Here’s a thing: every stadium where every drum corps show, forever, was held is recorded in the legacy files of DCI’s backroom storage. It would be a relatively simple matter to go back in time and total up the number of venues that did not pay performance fees.

In my opinion, that would bring a death knell to the notion of a high school ever leasing it’s stadium to drum corps ever again.

Why? Stu said DCI has been paying the ASCAP/BMI performance fees for their shows.

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i'm not going down the politics road. However, a high school band, trying to host a competition as a fundraiser, will now have to get the information from every band attending and then have to pay a fee for that?

some fundraiser. more like a way to kill the competitive marching band activity

I am a member of ASCAP. And ASCAP realizes it would be way too cumbersome for venues to research every song performed. So ASCAP does not grant licenses to perform individual songs. Rather, ASCAP offers blanket licenses that authorize the public performance of the entire ASCAP library. It is the framed or posted license you see on the wall at bars, clubs, etc. That blanket license is all that the host of a band competition needs. Which should have already been secured by the host school anyway because of the Copyrighted music being played at ticket-purchased sports events where bands play at halftime and recorded music is played over the loud speaker systems. Here is a link:

Here’s a thing: every stadium where every drum corps show, forever, was held is recorded in the legacy files of DCI’s backroom storage. It would be a relatively simple matter to go back in time and total up the number of venues that did not pay performance fees.

In my opinion, that would bring a death knell to the notion of a high school ever leasing it’s stadium to drum corps ever again.

Say, average 150 shows per season since 1972? Big payday for licensers, and a back-breaker for DCI , IMO.

It’s easy to say “they should have”, but was there ever any realistic expectation for venue operators in history to know that a performance fee was due?

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Maybe this will help, then... quoting Don Pesceone from a DCW interview in the spring of 1982:

"As I said before, a sanctioned show is one which someone other than DCI would sponsor. DCI acts as a booking agent. Our earnings hardly cover our expenses. For example, a sanctioned show contract of $12,000 would be divided up something like this: $8,000 or $9,000 for the corps performance guarantee, $900 for judges' fees, $2,400 for judges' transportation, performance licenses (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC), etc."

So evidently, circa 1981-1982, DCI was paying the performance fees for all their shows, even sanctioned shows run by tour event partners.

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